F OCUS - American Foreign Service Association

F OCUS ON A FGHANISTAN
THE PAKISTAN PIECE
OF THE PUZZLE
Almost seven years after
9/11 and the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the role of
Pakistan in the imbroglio remains murky. Relations
between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been largely
antagonistic since Pakistan gained independence in 1947
— with the exception of the five years of Taliban rule
between 1996 and 2001.
In 2001, the U.S. demanded that Pakistan renounce
the Taliban, whose rise to power was facilitated by
Islamabad, and refrain from installing Afghan leaders of
its own in Kabul. Convinced, however, that the American
presence in the region would not last, Pakistan embarked
on a dual-track policy — providing sanctuary to the remnants
of the Taliban on one side of the border, while officially
supporting the transitional Afghan government on
the other.
Until 2005, Islamabad refrained from any serious
interference, helping in the organization of the October
AFGHANISTAN’S CONTENTIOUS RELATIONSHIP
WITH ITS NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR IS A CRITICAL
ELEMENT IN ITS CONTINUING TROUBLES.
BY FREDERIC GRARE
Frederic Grare is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, where he leads a project
assessing U.S. and European policies toward Pakistan. A
leading expert and writer on South Asia, security issues,
Islamist movements and sectarian conflict in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, he edited the volume, India, China, Russia:
Intricacies of an Asian Triangle (India Research Press, 2005).
2004 presidential elections in the Afghan refugee camps,
as well as the September 2005 parliamentary vote.
Relations began deteriorating again in late 2005 with
the resurgence of the Taliban in the Afghan provinces
bordering Pakistan. In March 2006, the two countries’
presidents, Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf, traded
accusations of interference in each country’s affairs. The
antagonism reached a new peak in May 2007, when
Afghan demolition of a fence erected by Pakistan on the
border as a result of American pressure prompted a
series of clashes in which more than 50 Afghan civilians
and officers were killed. During the past year, relations
have improved somewhat but remain tense.
Normalization of the Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship
is an essential element in bringing about a stable and
developing Afghanistan. To understand how that might
be possible, it is necessary to look closely at Islamabad’s
policy toward Afghanistan and what shapes it.
Threat Perceptions
The row over the countries’ border is a paradox: Kabul
constantly accuses Islamabad of violating a border that
Kabul itself does not recognize. Indeed, this dispute is at
the core of the complex and unstable bilateral relationship.
Imposed by British colonialists in 1893 after two
wars to conquer the Afghans produced a stalemate, the
JULY-AUGUST 2008/FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL 41